Faculty/Staff Mini Grant Awardees FY13/14

Fiscal Year 2014

The event will consist of approximately 100 American Ferris students recruited from
religion, communication, philosophy, marketing, and international business summer
and fall classes. They will travel to Grand Rapids to observe Friday prayers at the
Islamic Mosque and Religious Institute (At-Tawheed Mosque). Following the prayers,
students will experience Middle Eastern cuisine at the mosque. During the meal, professional
members of the Muslim community will facilitate open discussion about Islam. Students
will also have the opportunity to visit a Bosnian mosque, ICC Behar, which is next
door to the At-Tawheed mosque. They would then appreciate the differences that occur
between different types of mosques and the nuances in the cultures that use them.

Although graduates in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
are in high demand, women continue to be underrepresented in these career choices.
The College of Engineering Technology (CET) in collaboration with Academic Affairs,
Admissions, and K-12 partners will host Ms. Celeste Baine, biomedical engineer and
author of over twenty books to facilitate a other/Daughter TEA (Technology Engineering
Aptitude) event for forty female high school students and their female guardians for
a total of eighty participants. This full day event will expose young women to opportunities
in STEM fields through hands-on lab activities and instruction from role models in
the field. Current female students in CET will participate in the learning opportunity
as well to serve as role models for the younger students. Participants also will attend
a special seminar about opportunities for women in STEM and related CET programs,
experience the Ferris State University campus, and engage in a presentation about
the college preparation process.

The Educational Counseling and Disabilities Services Department will expand and enhance
the Department's Assistive Technology to further address the needs of students with
disabilities enrolled at Ferris State University. The intent is to enhance a mobile,
accessible library of hardware, software, and adaptive devices that will be used by
students. A goal is to contribute substantially to ensure that diversity, in its many
forms, is understood, respected and valued. This additional technology will assist
students with mild to moderate disabilities by increasing utilization of assistive
technology (AT) and provide equal access to information. AT can assist people with
disabilities in accessing computers or other information technologies and function
more independently. Accessible instructional software (on disks, CDs or other media)
and documentation allow students with disabilities to participate side-by-side with
their peers in computer labs and classrooms as they complete assignments; collaborate
with peers; create and view presentations, documents, spreadsheets; and actively participate
in simulations and all other academic activities. One on one training will be done
with the students who check out this equipment and an interview will be conducted
at the end of the semester to assess the success of this program.

Held in Madison, Wisconsin, The White Privilege Conference is not "designed to attack,
degrade or beat up on white folks". It is a conference that challenges participants
to examine concepts surrounding privilege and oppression. Solutions and team building
strategies that work toward a more equitable world are emphasized. Race, gender, sexuality,
class, disability, etc are examined.

More than 1500 attend this conference annually. participants include high school and
college students, teachers, university faculty, higher education professionals, spiritual
community members, and members of the corporate arena. More than 35 states are usually
represented as well as Australia, Bermuda, Canada and Germany.

It is the desire for the College of Health Professions' Diversity Committee to have
three members and three student members attend this conference.

The conference attendees will be expected to share their conference experiences with
the other members of the committee during their April 2014 meeting. The dean will
be invited to this meeting as well. It is also expected that the attendees will develop
a presentation for the College of Health Professions' faculty and staff which will
be presented during faculty week in August 2014 and/or September 2014 college meeting.
A proposal or proposals will be developed for the Faculty Center for Teaching and
Learning for a workshop based upon their experiences at the conference. It is the
hope that the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will be interested in these
proposals.

"Imaginary Indians" as as Artifact of Power is and exhibit of over 150 artifacts representing
the American Indian as an imaginary figure existing in the realm of popular culture.
The fictionalized and commercialized representations steal the identity and mock Native
Amewrican cultures, replacing the historical with something that never existed. The
exhibit highlights theses of erasure, invisibility, the myth of discovery, colonialism,
the fantasy "Indian in a Cupboard," and the "Indian Head" as a commodity of consumption.
This exhibit will be supported by guest lectures in classrooms, a public presentation,
and a work session of faculty and students to produce a narrative panel for the existing
items portraying Native Americans in the Jim Crow Museum. This series of events is
designed to facilitate a deconstruction of popular misconceptions of native Americans,
and to replace hurtful fictionalized portrayals of American Indian cultures with historic
and modern perspectives of native American people. University.

The Television and Digital Media Production program, Instructional Design course would
produce, direct and develop a DVD titled “The Alphabet Soup: Learning about LGBTQIA
people and the SafePlace Program” (DVD). Three to four videos would be published to
teach the Ferris learning community and others about the Safe Place Program (SP) a
network of lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, allies, and questioning
(LGBTQIAQ) people who contribute to the open and safe environment at Ferris State
University.

The Mythology of the Jewish Experience will be and exploration of Jewish mythology
as well as mythologies about Jews. The image of the Jew has always been a protean
one, changing over the course of millennia, shaped and reshaped to fit diverse cultural,
political and theological needs. Thus, Jews are portrayed as communists and capitalists,
liberals and fascists, killers of Christ, enemies of humanity, the evil behind all
evil, the minions of Satan.

Aviva Cantor has spent a lifetime combining activism with journalism. She has been
described as the "great synthesizer," bringing together Jewish feminism, Zionism,
socialism, animal rights and concern for the environment. "She is best known for her
work as co-founder and editor of Lillith, the independent Jewish feminist magazine,
her landmark The Egalitarian Haggadah, and her passionately analytical and theoretical
work*, Jewish Women/Jewish Men: The Legacy of Patriarchy in Jewish Life, and exploration
of Jewish History, culture and psychology."

In her more than forty years of journalism, Aviva Cantor has reported on Jewish communities
in Africa, Latin America and Europe. During her visit to campus she will also meet
with our journalism students and discuss the ethics of journalism and how journalism
has changed over the past half century.

The films “Inlaws & Outlaws” and “Just Marriage” highlight the important issues around
marriage inequality and the need to address prejudices against our LGBT community
members and their families. Director Drew Emery has traveled the country educating
university students and community members on the importance of examining these issues
with compassion and an eye to the social justice issues they raise. Participants will
be asked to consider the human rights of a large portion of our society and the effects
on all of us as we make decisions in our families, in our courts and in the voting
booth. This event will engage the FSU community in 3 distinct West Michigan locations
in a dialog about the ethical issues surrounding marriage equality for the LGBT members
of our community, and encourage attendees of the film screening and director talk
back to consider where we’ve come from and where we are headed next in our current
struggle for equality.

The Rankin Art Gallery, the Office of Multicultural Student Services, The Kendall
Gallery, and Artworks of Big Rapids are working together to bring the stunning tradition
of Oaxaca Folk Art to Ferris State University. The work will be on display at each
location; Big Rapids main campus, Kendall Grand Rapids campus and Artworks of Big
Rapids.

This exhibition will take place in tandem with the OMSS organized events that make
up FSU's Hispanic Heritage celebration. Along with the art on display, the artists
will be brought to our communities to talk to our students, faculty, staff and our
public, covering topics that include information about the rich cultural heritage
of Oaxaca Mexico, the current political climate of their country and most importantly
the tradition of Oaxaca wood carving.

Along with meeting the artists and learning about their lives, students will have
the opportunity to observe Jacobo carving and Maria painting during workshop sessions.
Students and the public will also have an opportunity to learn and apply the unique
method of painting in the colorful and delicate style. Workshops, demonstrations and
presentations will be scheduled in all three locations.

Fiscal Year 2013

Nowruz - Persian/Iranian New Year Festival is a 1-day festival that will be celebrated
on the 20th of March with visitors from all walks of life. This will be the first
time it is celebrated on a Ferris State University campus.

Nowruz is a strong and unbreakable chain that connects several countries with diverse
cultures, languages, and religions in different parts of the world that all once constituted
the civilization of Greater Persia. All the Iranians in this great land, the Persian-speaking
minorities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe; the people of Tajikistan and Afghanistan;
and groups of people in Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Armenia, Albania, and Iraq celebrate Nowruz annually and consider
it to be one of their main national festivals.

At this event, one beautiful and eye-catching Haft-Sin table will be displayed in
the IRC connector. One or two Persian student(s) or community member(s) will explain
the meaning and the symbolism of each item on the Haft-Sin table during the program.
There will be an introduction about Nowruz, its history, and an explanation of the
Haft-Sin Table by Sara Ansari in one of the rooms in IRC followed by a presentation
about Persian culture and its connection with nature by Dr. Shahram

Revised September 5, 2012Parastesh, Iranian Scholar at Ferris. In the evening, Persian
food will be served to all attendees to give them a taste of the Middle East as well
take part in a Nowruz custom.

Birkam Health Center at Ferris State University has systems in place to provide quality
health services to students. While we pride ourselves in the provision of quality,
comprehensive and affordable health care, Birkam Health Center is challenged to effectively
provide care to Low English Proficient (LEP) students and students with particular
disabilities. The specific challenge discussed here includes interpreting the spoken
and written word for our LEP and International student population. A number of International
students in the beginning English classes have come to Ferris State University without
English-speaking skills or a very limited capacity. One can imagine the potential
difficulty this would pose for a student seeking appropriate health care on campus.

LEP students have the right to receive health information in their preferred language
venue. This venue includes written information and verbal information including those
cultural factors that affect understanding of health information. Our goal is to provide
this by using special phones, translated materials, language services education, interpreters
and marketing supplies for LEP.

Many pre-business participants are first-generation college students that lack exposure
to university services, the business world, and career opportunities available to
them because of educational success. Some of our students are academically under prepared
for the university experience. The Torch Program is being initiated for these students
because we believe they tend to fall through the cracks and are at risk of being unsuccessful
in our learning environment. As we know, FSU offers many services for under-prepared
students. This program is not meant to take the place of current offerings. We believe
some of our pre-business students need additional guidance and "intrusive" advising
to utilize the available services. We believe these students will benefit through
out-of-class contact which can also be provided by trained mentors in the business
field. Specific business-oriented events will also be planned for the students participants.

"Native Exploration: Native American Pow Wow & Round Dance" is a new initiative to
promote, teach and engage our campus community on Native American culture. The two-part
event is one students, faculty, staff ad community members will enjoy and be able
to participate in. The first event is a Traditional Pow Wow. Historically, Pow Wow's started in the 19th century, and today's gatherings are
based on the fundamental values common to Native Americans across North America: Honor,
Respect, Tradition and Generosity. The event at FSU will be the first of its kind
here on campus that will include singers, dancers, vendors and families from all over
Michigan to share and celebrate the culture.

The second event will be a Round Dance. Students, community-members will be invited to participate in the Round Dance exhibition.
The Round Dance will be participatory, and all will see the evolution to modern from
Pow-Wow to Round Dance. The event will include a talk from professional Native drummer
on the history and meaning of the Drum to the indigenous People, and a Dreamcatchers
workshop by the FSU RSO Circle of Tribal Nations. The events will be free and open to campus, a small fee will be charged for community
members.

Dr. Renn's keynote address and workshop are designed to heighten faculty and staff
awareness of the challenges LBGT students face in the classroom. These challenges
range from benign neglect of LBGT perspectives and student perceptions that faculty
do not understand them, to experiencing outright hostility from faculty and other
students.

Research (e.g., Cotton-Huston and Waite, 2000; Lopez and Chism, 1993) suggests that
lesbian, gay, and bisexual students experience high rates of discrimination and harassment
on campus and that the classroom environment has an impact on student's coming-out
experiences. There is also research (e.g., Malinowitz, 1995) to suggest that the coming-out
experiences of students are linked to the retention and success of students in colleges
and universities. This keynote address and workshop are designed to heighten faculty
and staff awareness of these issues and provide them with concrete strategies for
how to address them in the classroom.